TiVo itself never set up shop here, though Thomson and BSkyB jointly offered its original box in the UK in 2000. Production ended in 2002 when BSkyB launched its Sky+ box, and sales of the TiVo box were stopped just three years later.

Seven years on, and it's coming back. Virgin said it will offer the TiVo-based box later this year. It will connect to Virgin's fibre-optic network, and will be capable of pulling in internet TV streams on on-demand services directly, without going through your broadband router.

Pricing and availability details will be announced in due course, Virgin said. ®